


Brother's Keepers

by Jemppu



Series: Months [26]
Category: Star Trek: Discovery
Genre: Art, Culmets - Freeform, Fanart, M/M, Tumblr, honey mushroom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-24
Updated: 2020-04-24
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:48:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,077
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23823337
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jemppu/pseuds/Jemppu
Summary: Part of"Honey Mushroom"series of illustrated Culmets momentslisted here on tumblr, and of"Months"moments, taking place before the couple's ultimate Discovery mission.Paul and Justin discuss while moving out of Deneva Station.With illustration:"Dreams and Preparations"
Relationships: Hugh Culber/Paul Stamets
Series: Months [26]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1082124
Kudos: 7





	Brother's Keepers

**Author's Note:**

> The series gets released quite out of order, as inspiration dictates, so I urge you to check out the [series list on tumblr](https://tinyurl.com/honeyshroom) for a better picture of the whole.

## Months: Brother’s Keepers 

“Wait, what?” Justin replies in amazement to Paul’s reveal, dropping the crate he’s lifting back to the floor, “You’re in a relationship?”

“Yup”, surprisingly he still is.

The two mushroom scientists are busily packing away last of their stuff left behind on Deneva Station in the wake of their abrupt, Justin-assisted ‘call for duty’ from Starfleet couple weeks prior. This time they are leaving the facilities for good - clearing the place for future residents. Last of the staff having just been released too.

“Since when?” Justin struggles to pick his jaw off the floor, “why haven’t I heard of this before?”.

Paul has to gesture to the man to keep him passing the crates. He is thankful the recently divorced man doesn’t seem too broken about this surprise.

“Remember that hotel booking you were curious about?” Paul reminds.

“What?” Justin seems lost, while lifting the crate up for Paul to pack into their shuttlecraft. “Wait… the one with the Starfleet guy?” He then recalls an incident, “that was, what? Like… well over a year ago. You still seeing them?”

“All this time”, Paul replies nonchalantly.

“Why the hell wouldn’t you tell me anything?” Again the man stops frustratingly midway through lifting another crate.

Paul hadn’t deliberately hid the fact. Or maybe a little, but just to avoid any annoying snooping. First he hadn’t himself been sure what it was with Hugh and him, then later the topic just hadn’t really had a chance to come up. That was it, right?

“Well, I guess I didn’t see how it was any of your business”, Paul states in his familiar, straight forward manner and turns to tuck another box in it’s place. “Besides, you didn’t seem too thrilled about it that first time you heard I had had _"collusions”_ with a Starfleet officer _“behind your back"_ ”, he speaks from the back of the shuttle.

There had been some pretty harsh words exchanged during this confrontation: accusations of _“meddling with the Fleet”_ , letting a _“rival spy"_ near their top-secret research data by sharing a hotel room with them, and calling Paul out for his hypocrisy for still refusing the research to have anything to do with the Fleet. All ridiculous, paranoid overreactions to something , which had absolutely nothing to do with the Fleet. Or their research.

 _"Sleeping with the enemy"_ had been a scything throw-away phrase that was left lingering in Paul’s mind especially vividly.

"I’m sorry”, the look on Justin’s face tells the man is not only that, but also clearly disappointed in his own past behavior, “for lashing out on you like that back then”.

“No need to apologize to me”, Paul states, as he reappears at the shuttle door. And it’s sincere. “It’s Hugh you should be apologizing to - he’s the one you accused of being a _"Starfleet spy"_ ”.

Without knowing the man or the situation at all. Hence Paul doesn’t take it too heavily - he gets how it might have seemed from an outside perspective, worse than what it actually was - is.

“Who? Hugh?” Justin tries to stay along as the two of them continue to load the shuttle, “that’s their name?”

"Yes. Doctor Hugh Culber”, Paul fills the man in. The name had come up, but obviously wasn’t that much of a priority back then to try and remember. “Starfleet Medical. A Commanding… I mean, a Lieutenant Commander”, Paul smiles a bit for his slip.

Paul can certainly imagine himself flipping out, had the roles been reversed: had he found Justin hooking up with a Starfleet officer.

“Oh, I didn’t realize we’ll have non-Command personnel above petty Lieutenants aboard the ships. Thought these were to be near completely rookie vessels”, Justin ponders.

“Marrying up, I see”, the man smirks.

“Fuck you, Justin”, Paul smiles, dismissing the remark. “If I wanted to be cruel, I’d arrange for you to have your pre-mission physical with him”, he then laughs jestingly.

But he wouldn’t of course. Setting those two up could backfire on Paul himself catastrophically: there could be stories shared! Knowing Hugh, there definitely would be.

“Again: I still can’t believe you’ve been seeing someone from the Fleet whole this time”, Justin does seem bewildered, “and not tell me you were in a relationship! Not **even** , when I threw that quick decision ultimatum on you!”

“Just, drop it”, Paul let’s out a slightly exhausted huff through his half a smile, “the man’s employment has nothing to do with anything”.

And what good would it have done to bring up his dating at that point either - this late in the game: the ball had already been dropped, and was rolling for the both of them the moment Justin himself signed up - with that decision they were going for the stars, were there 'spouses’ or not.

“Well, it’s still shocking”, Justin insists, in a nonchalant manner. “Who would ever want to date a _"fungi imperfecti"_ like you, period”, he then laughs, “especially someone in such an esteemed position as a doctor”.

“ **I’m** a doctor”, Paul reminds.

“Yeah? Are you really? Mushroom vets at best, is what we are”, Justin teases, “You’d think they’d have better options”.

 _Not a doctor doctor_ , Paul smiles at his thought and doesn’t even attempt a rebuttal.

It’s all true: the man’s words could just as well be coming from Paul’s own mouth.

He then regards rest of what Justin just brought up. For the first time after all of this had unfolded.

“That **was** a pretty shitty thing to do, with the hectic importunity though”, Paul wants to make sure this doesn’t go unacknowledged. It had hurt at the time - to drop a bomb like that unannounced - and had brought a shitload of baggage to deal with.

“Sorry about that”, Justin’s grin quickly vanishes, “I know it’s probably not much of an excuse, but the Fleet threw that ridiculous schedule right on me, upon my enlistment”.

Paul looks at Justin for any cues, that might not register through the man’s voice alone. Justin’s voice was never the easiest to construe.

“You had it coming though”, Justin then adds with a careful smirk.

Paul drops his scrutiny and cringes, “I know”. He had been acting bratty about that for years. “You know me”.

“Yeah, I **do** know you”, Justin lets the next crate drop down poignantly hard, “And I know you’d safe yourself a lot of trouble, by being a bit more… communicative”.

“I didn’t know you’d have someone else you’d maybe need to discuss this with!” Justin keeps coming back to this, leaning with his hand against the just delivered box up on the edge of the shuttle entrance, “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me! Had I known, I…”

“Couldn’t have done anything differently”, Paul interrupts the man’s unnecessary guilty plea and shushes him off of the crate, “I mean, if it was the Fleet pressuring you?” Paul commiserates, picking the box up, “I get it. It’s exactly the kind of 'excuse’ I **can** understand”.

Justin looks at his brother amused, “Because _"fuck the Man”_?“

Paul’s laugh sounds from the back of the shuttle. Something like that, yeah. His stance on things must often appear like that.

This seemed like it had been a situation quite out of both of their hands. It’s nicer to think like that anyway. Hardly in, and the Fleet was already dictating their path and the pace with which to tread it.

"Besides…”, Paul steps back to the door, still feeling like pointing out, “I certainly wouldn’t be here at all now, if I hadn’t been forced into it so”.

“Again, I’m sorry”, Justin repeats his apologies, “for the _"kiddos”_ and all".

“No. It’s fine. It’s good now”, Paul assures, “can’t let getting caught up in such sentimentalities stand in the way of scientific progress”.

“We’ll still have Stella”.

It’s Justin’s turn to throw a questioning look at Paul, who responds with an almost agreeing one. There’s hint of a smile from him, like he’s getting caught of something. Justin must know to suspect, if Paul would really be giving up on all of his kiddos that easily, but the thing is left to but a silent acknowledgement.

Guilting the man wasn’t why Paul brought up his current involvement in this, however: as odd as the thought sounds, he said it to share some gratitude, “like I said, Hugh’s coming with, it turns out”.

They’ll now have a place together because of this unexpected turn of events. Albeit a fucking Federation starship - Paul thinks, letting out a faint huff -, but a shared place none the less.

“Yeah, that. That sounds serious”, Justin smiles sympathetically, “the guy must be really into you, to re-arrange their life like that”.

“Yup”, Paul is in full agreement on that, “it’s pretty fucking remarkable”.

The connotations of that notion coming from Justin do not escape Paul either. The man had just broken up with his wife, to be on this very expedition they’ll be embarking upon. Clearly, those two hadn’t been able to arrange things as agreeably - both too dedicated to their respective works.

Paul finds himself overwhelmingly thankful for Hugh again.

And he truly does forgive Justin. He totally gets the man’s position. This research is now all the man has. The same it had been for Paul for well over a decade. Of course the man would do anything to see the work succeed.

Somehow the brothers’ tables seem to have completely turned on this, where Paul is now the one in a relationship _(with an opera buff too: Paul can’t help but wonder how Hugh and Amelia might have just hit it off),_ and Justin left with the work alone.

And Paul had been a fucking jerk about it too, he’s just recently realized: blaming Justin for letting his relationship with Amelia affect the man’s work. Of course it would. Just as it had for Paul with Hugh - as it still does.

In fact, now that he looks back at it, Paul realizes he might have been deflecting some of his own fears on to his brother. Fears, that his relationship with Hugh might be a distraction from his dedication to the work and maybe make him less daring to try out more drastic solutions to achieve results in the work. Which in turn had possibly made him engage into straight out foolish stunts all the more eagerly - in an attempt to proof to himself - make a point of it to Justin too perhaps -, that he had not been 'compromised’ by any such “insignificant sentimentalities”.

Basic fucking human need, companionship, that he had in his arrogance denied himself and thus deemed Justin 'weak’ for not surviving without it like he had.

Like he thought he had.

In truth, the relationship has had quite the positive effect on his work, Paul has since noted: having some life outside of his work now too, he’s able to act much more relaxed about it. Not to waste precious energy into stressing over the schedules, the results - or no results -, the setbacks or any such aspects as much as before, but is now capable of reserving the energy for longer pouts of real, productive inspiration. To the actual work, rather than his feelings tied to and around it.

Results come as they may now - as they always have of course -, but his happiness no longer demands the fulfillment from them for his inspiration to stay alive, nor does his productivity hinder from set-backs as easily or as drastically.

He’s gained fresh perspective on the work in whole - not being so wrapped up into it emotionally.

Love, nature’s own performance enhancing drug - Paul lets out a small amused huff, and smiles as he comes back from his thoughts.

Justin grabs hold of the last couple of crates and hands them to Paul.

And that’s it. They are now completely out of the Deneva Station and off to a new chapter in their journey. All their affiliations lay with the Federation from now on. It’s a mad thought still, but also a bit exciting, for all the new possibilities that lay ahead, all the new places their research can go now - both figuratively and literally.

 **A bit** exciting - Paul lets himself admit that much.

“Lieutenant Stamets”, Justin salutes as the pair turn to climb aboard the shuttle.

“After you, Lieutenant Straal”, Paul responds with a hand wave.

It’s time for the brothers to fly out of the Den, and head for the stars.

**Author's Note:**

> Thoughts on the work posted along with the illustration on [**tumblr**](https://jmalkki.tumblr.com/post/178036623484/dreams-and-preparations-finally-lt-justin).
> 
> _Likes, shares, comments and what have you, all appreciated on:_  
>  _[ **tumblr**](http://jmalkki.tumblr.com/) | [**twitter**](https://twitter.com/Jemppu) | [**instagram**](https://www.instagram.com/jeminamalkki/) | [**DeviantArt**](https://www.deviantart.com/jemppu)_


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